Flames of Darkness
by DarkDragonOzzy
Summary: When a young boy is chosen to be one of the last Dragoon's alive, he and his friends try to uncover the truth behind his destiny. Updated!
1. Discovery

DISCLAIMER Although this story is written by me, all the contents in it are from Final Fantasy© XI that was created by Square-Enix©. This includes City names, area names, races, spell names, and other things found in the game itself. I have acquired the permission of certain character names from people I know, and will be given credit when/if needed. Marlexa and Celerity are my own creations, if someone is named by these names, it is completely coincidental. If I make a mistake (such as storyline or location name) please RR. Thank you and enjoy the story.

**_Chapter I - Discovery_**

Vana'Diel, this was the name of the world in which the story you are about to hear takes place. A world were magic and monsters were a common thing. A place where a war was taking place between the five races inhabiting the world and the monsters who were known as the "Beastmen" in a dark time, which was known as the "Crystal Era".

Our story takes place however, where the war has just ended after a victorious fight between the five races and the horrible being known as the "Shadow Lord", which plagued the world and commanded the Beastmen. After the battle, many thought that these dark times would finally come to an end, but they were wrong. Although the Beastmen were vanquished, not all of them had died along with the Shadow Lord. That was over 7 years ago...

After a time of peace, Beastmen sightings became more and more until, officially, the Beastmen were back and already building new Headquarters not far from the 4 nations. Those nations where the Federation of Windurst, the Kingdom of San d'Oria, the Republic of Bastok, and the Grand Duchy of Jeuno.

Although Jeuno was considered neutral, the other 3 were in a constant rivalry. With the newly formed Beastmen camps showing up however, they had to take actions against them before a great war broke out again, just as it did before in the Crystal Era.

But since the 3 nations had other issues to deal with, they decided to send people out, who volunteered to deal with the Beastmen on their own account. These people, would later be called "Adventurers" and would act individually and such, they would not be denied access to all 4 nations no matter what their alliance, and even form groups with others no matter what their Nation. With this action, the Crystal Era came to an end, and the Age of Adventurers had begun.

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Within the walls of Bastok, the city was thriving with people going about their business, even though it was just after dark on a new moon night, which didn't matter much because the city was aglow with lights. Although everything was going on without disturbance, a crash in the Markets made a small commotion that turned heads.

"Thieves! Come back here!" said an Elvaan man holding a broom over his head. People in the area looked at him, seeing that his fruit stand had been robbed of several pieces of his goods. As a group of people looked at him, they saw he was yelling at a small pair of boys, which were made of a Hume boy and Tarutaru. They were both covered in raggedy looking clothing, looked to be around their mid-teen's, and both holding several pieces of fruit and meats.

"Hurry, we need to hurry before he catches us.," yelled the small Tarutaru to the other as they tried to outrun the man chasing them with a broom over his head.

"Get back here you small imps!" shouted the man.

They kept running from the Markets to the Mines section of Bastok till the small Tarutaru tripped, dropping several pieces of fruit and some other foods. The Hume went back to the Taru as well as the man who was still after them.

"Hurry, get up and lets get out of here. We're almost there, forget about that one! Let's just go!" told the Hume as the Taru tried to put the food he dropped back into his small bag. They kept running with the man chasing them still. They ran behind the Auction house in an attempt to lose the man. After running behind the dark alley, they found themselves in a dead-end.

"What will we do now?" said the Taru looking around for a small hole or any signs of a way to escape.

"I don't know, let's just stay here and hope that ma..."

"Aha! There you are you rotten children!"

Both kids looked to where the voice came from and saw the man gasping for breath, using his broom for support. They were both cornered, and soon they'd have to face punishment for the food they stole.

"Now, I'll give you 2 a beating you won't forget!" said the man, walking with the broom in his hands.

"We didn't want to steal this food, but a friend of ours needs it badly-wadly! And we don't have enough gil to pay for it!" said the small Taru.

"I don't care if your friend is the president! I'm going to beat some sense to you so you don't do it again!" said the man manically, still walking towards them now holding the broom above his head. Both of them looked scared but then the Hume looked up and saw a small roof, but no way to climb it up unless...

"Vivini, hurry and get on my back." whispered the Hume to the Taru.

"What, why? You're not going to, you know." whispered the Taru back.

"I have to, Firewing needs this food and I don't have time to waste," whispered the Hume.

"Ok, but do it before he charges at us"

At once the Taru climbed up on the Hume's back, holding tight to not fall. The man then charged at them and started swinging the broom wildly like an Orc, and, to the man's surprise, the Hume jumped up to the roof, which was about 10 feet high! The men at once stopped and looked in surprised but then yelled at the pair. "You won't escape me you rotten children, even if you can jump as high as the Dragoo.." the man stopped and gasped. The Taru got off the Hume and they kept running on the rooftops.

As they looked down from the roof, they didn't see the man or anyone else for that matter. After walking a bit they found a pipe on the side of a building and climbed it down to the alleyway. After a while, they carefully went behind houses, avoiding anyone and anything, and then they stopped, as they got to a dead-end, which was filled, with weeds and the floor not covered in pavement as the rest of the city.

"Are we here?" asked the Taru looking around behind them.

"Yeah, we're here, see?" said the Hume as he pointed to a blue ◊. The Hume then took the sewer lid off a manhole that was barely visible, since it was covered in dirt. The Taru went in first and then the Hume climbed in, who closed the manhole before going deeper. Both of them climbed down to a tunnel which led to a large cave looking room that above had no roof and you could see the stars.

As both of them walked to the cave, they were greeted by other children that were an, which were all dressed in clothing that didn't look better from the ones the Taru and the Hume were wearing. As they greeted each other, they all walked down a small slope in which there was some torches and what looked like furniture, but it looked old and worn out. (The main characters are all age 14 - 15 by the way)

"Did you guys get the food?" asked the Mithra as they all sat down and the couches gave a rather small groan.

"Yeah, we got quite a bit, and no one saw us come into the manhole," said the Hume.

"No one saw us? But that big guy almost had us cornered-wonerd!" shouted the Taru at the Hume as he unloaded the bag.

"Yeah, but he didn't catch us, nor does he know where we went" said the Hume as he ate one piece of chicken he stole.

"You guys were caught?" asked the rather tall Elvaan girl as she joined the others.

"No, but we were chased about halfway here" said the Hume still eating the chicken.

"Did anyone else chase you 2?" asked the Mithra as she grabbed a Mithkabob and started eating it.

"No, we were just chased by that crazy guy, sure, we kind of stole his food, but we tried to explain to him that we didn't have enough gil to pay for it," said the Hume as he kept eating.

"But then this idiot went and did a "Jump" right in front of that guy." said the Taru looking rather tired.

"You did a Jump!" the 2 girls asked, both looking at the Hume.

"Yeah, but, I had to otherwise me and Vivini would be walking back here without the food and covered in bruises, or even worse!" said the Hume as he finished his chicken.

"That's still no reason to do a jump! What if that guy figured you're a Dragoon?" asked the Mithra.

"Yeah, people would search you down tirelessly since Dragoons are pretty much extinct, also since people would wonder how you became one in the first place. Don't forget that wyverns are also pretty much hunted for their scales, organs, and..." said the Mithra.

"I know! But, I'm sure that guy didn't see us, after all, it was really dark, so he might just think we ran past him" said the Hume.

"But he said Drago, I'm sure he meant Dragoon." said the Taru with a bit of annoyance in his tone.

"Look, before I start worrying about some guy, I need to see if Firewing is still ok," said the Hume, getting up and grabbing several pieces of meat.

"Oh, don't worry Oztamin, he's ok, just, I think he is, since he won't stop snapping at me when I get near him" said the Elvaan girl sitting where Oztamin was just a few moments ago.

Oztamin snickered, "Thanks Celerity, anyways I'll, wait, where's Runex?" asked then looking around the cave.

"Oh don't worry about him, he said he was going to look for something while the night is at it's darkest." said the Mithra just as she swallowed her food.

"Well, tell me when he gets here, I'm going to take some of this food to him, it's been a while since he's had something decent to eat, well, for a wyvern that is" said Oztamin as he walked away from the group, now talking about which Beastmen was easiest to kill (in theory) and other things.

As Oztamin walked, he went down a small tunnel, and into a small room that was lit by a small torch. The left side of the small cave was covered in hay in which laid a small blue wyvern, not bigger than a wolf or Coeurl. The wyvern lay on the hay sleeping and woke up when Oztamin stepped near him. He then laid his head and just looked at him.

Oztamin then put the meat next to him and the small wyvern got up and began eating. As the wyvern ate, Oztamin sat next to him and just looked to the top of the cave. Looking at the roof for a while as the wyvern ate Oztamin was just thinking about what to do and what he should tell the others to do next. He just then realized he was worrying about things he shouldn't worry and looked down to the wyvern.

"Hope this helps Firewing, I know you like dead raw meat, but this was the next best thing I could get, well, without getting eaten that is" said Oztamin as Firewing kept eating the meat that laid upon him. Oztamin knew that Firewing couldn't talk, but he kept talking to him, sensing sort of a link between them as the small wyvern finished the last of the food. Oztamin was still surprised how he found this wyvern, which happened around 2 weeks after the Shadow Lord had been defeated.

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He was a small child at the age of 8 when he heard news that the Shadow Lord, the reason many of his friends were either badly hurt or dead, was defeated once and for all. Although this news meant he could go outside without worrying about a Beastmen invasion such as what happened in Tavnazia, it also meant that his parents would not return to greet him because days before this, he received a letter saying that both his parents were killed by a large group of Demons that ambushed their camp near the valleys of Xacabard.

After a group of people came to his house, which only he and a guardian were there, he ran away so he wouldn't be placed in an orphanage in Jeuno. He did this since he didn't want to be placed there, and also he had not yet recovered from the shock that both of his parents were dead.

After running away, he tried to run away to San d'Oria by somehow taking a Chocobo but found out that the Chocobo didn't think too much of him and left him stranded in the middle of the Konschtat Highlands during a thunderstorm. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere in this weather was mad, so he took shelter in one of the old windmills covering the highlands.

That was one of his most cold and terrible nights he ever had. With nothing to cover himself in the cold but with the clothes he had on, and trying not to make sound to attract traveling Goblins or Rams to his location otherwise he could become a quick meal, since he was literally without a weapon. After suffering the cold of the night, he found that the following morning had improved but not by much since it was still raining, but not as much. As he walked across the highlands, he was almost spotted by a group of Quadavs eating what seemed to be small raw rabbits. As he kept going for hours then days through the Valkurn Dunes and onto La Theine Plateau without food, he passed out just as he made it around halfway through the Plateau though.

When he woke, he found that he was in a hut, what seemed to be made by someone that didn't know much, since it was in horrid shape, and it seemed too big to house even a Galka. When he got up, still sore from the journey and not having anything to eat for what seemed days now, he found a dead body on the floor, and another body of a small Elvaan hanging from the ceiling. He was scared and shocked as he heard grunts outside and peaked out the hut door to see that the grunts came from Orcs! He was in an Orc camp, though it was thought that they were all dead since the defeat of the Shadow Lord, he was in the middle of a small Orc Camp!

He darted back in shock and fell over some sort of round, scaled creature. He looked to see that he tripped over a wyvern, an actually wyvern! He quickly backed away from the creature but saw that it was chained to the wall from its neck. He looked at it and it looked back at him when he saw some sort markings on it, but right at that moment a group of Orc's came to the hut.

The Orc's noticed the boy they had captured was not on where they left them, and started looking for him. It didn't take long to find him though, and they immediately tried cutting him with their axes, although badly made, still sharp. Oztamin barely had enough strength to avoid all the Orc's, that in the scurry, one of them accidentally cut the head off another, and the others began cutting at him for killing one of his own kind. In the confusion, Oztamin made his way out of the camp, avoiding other Orc's along the way, and hurrying before he was caught and killed. As he made his way, he heard a cry from a hut that came right next to him.

When he got inside, he found an Elvaan girl, around his same age but taller, tied to the wall with several bodies around him. Oztamin, not having any weapons, took an Axe that was on the skull of a skeleton and cut the ropes to free the girl. When she thanked him though, an arrow came flying and it hit the girl right on her forehead, killing her instantly. Oztamin, shocked at the sight of the dead girl, ran outside to find an Orc pointing at him with a bow and arrow.

Frozen with terror, Oztamin looked at the Orc and closed his eyes, waiting for the Orc to kill him just as it killed the girl. After a while, he opened his eyes to see the small wyvern he saw before, biting at the Orc fiercely. Oztamin, confused and dazed, took the axe he had and ran at the Orc, in which he starting cutting and slashing at. But the Orc had more strength and bashed him in chest, sending him flying. Oztamin tried to get up, but the last thing he saw was the wyvern torching the Orc with his Flame Breath.

The world around him seemed boundless, in a vortex, spinning in complete darkness. At this moment, he thought he had died, and he was now in some sort of vortex, spinning to his fate in either Heaven or Hell. But he found this not to be his fate, as he found his body hit the ground. He then heard a distant voice calling to him, a soothing voice, and saying

"Wake up.. Come on kid, don't die on me"

He was laying on a small cover, on what seemed to be a campfire. He looked up, and saw nothing but darkness around him, and a knight covered in what seemed to be dark bluish armor. Although he couldn't see his face because of the mask, his could tell he was an Elvaan on account of his long, thin body. He was still hurt from the bash and lay there, listening to the wind blow and the fire crack.

"You gave me quite the scare there for a moment kid, I thought you were a goner" said the man.

Oztamin just groaned, still to hurt to even respond to him.

"Hey, don't try to talk, I'm surprised you're alive after that Orc send you flying like that, or that this creature came to your aid" said the man looking at the wyvern. Oztamin looked to the side and saw the wyvern he saw burn the Orc and save his life, he also saw it was badly injured. He groaned a bit and asked the Elvaan knight, "Will he be alright?" The man looked at him, and simply said "He will live if that's what you're wondering" After that the creature just gave a faint cry and the Elvaan simply pat him on the head. He then looked over to Oztamin and said "I know you must be confused why this wyvern helped you, even I am, but I'm sure it'll come to you sooner or later, after all, you are the first Dragoon since me by the looks of things..." he said.

Oztamin looked at the man in surprise, him, a Dragoon? But how could that be? He had heard legends that spoke of people who could tame wyverns and use them to aid them in combat, but that was just a legend. He had also just seen the wyvern, and also he was still only 8 years old, so why was this wyvern attached to him?

"All wyvern's choose who their master will be, so don't take it in surprise that he helped you. But you're so young and so is he, so those horrid Orc's must had found this poor one's egg and forced him to hatch to sell his organs, scales and bones, as they are high value among the filth we call Beastmen" said the Dragoon. Oztamin looked at him in awe, but found nothing to say to him. "Now, eat this" the Dragoon gave him some food and water "for now your journey has just begun, or should I say, both of your journeys" and with that the Dragoon vanished.

The next day, he was not in the campsite he was before, but in a cave, just near a tunnel outside the city of Bastok. He looked around for the Dragoon that helped him but found nothing, no campfire, and no cover in which he slept in, not even a sign that the Dragoon had ever come to him or ever existed for that matter. All he found was the wyvern that saved him sound asleep. Not long after that, he found a way to get to Bastok through the tunnel, that was connected to the cave so no monster could get to him (The cave is inside a mountain on the side of Port Bastok, but the entrance is through an old tunnel in Bastok Mines) He made it clear that no one knew he was in the city, so most of the time he stayed with the wyvern, which he named Firewing, having used Fire Breath on the Orc and a scar on his left wing. He managed to get some hay from the Chocobo Stables that night later, to build a small bed for Firewing and himself.

Although he wanted to tell others the tale of how he survived to escape an Orc camp, he knew others would not take the wyvern likely, and most likely take him away to either kill him or lock him up. Also he had heard news that a small child ran away from home while eavesdropping on a conversation, and this was not taken lightly in events that the war had just ended a couple of weeks ago.

After about a year of hiding and going out on night only to get food and other things, he was caught by a small Tarutaru, which had just lost his dad, a traveling merchant, to a Goblin ambush when he was out traveling in the Batallia Downs. The small Taru told him he was named Vivini and agreed to stay with Oztamin if he could practice his Black magic skills after Oztamin explained where he was hiding.

Although Firewing didn't snap at Oztamin, he tried to make a snack out of the small Taru at the first couple of times, but later came to be familiar with him. The Taru also told Oztamin later that he wanted to become the greatest Black Mage, so he wouldn't meet the same fate his father did, that and using Black Magic looked so cool. Both of them became best friends despite their differences.

Around 3 years after that, they met with a pair that was an Elvaan and a Mithra when they were out at night trying to get supplies for the week. Both of them were sisters and lost their parent's in a tragic accident involving some cave in on the Zuhemn Mines, and since neither of them wanted to be separated, and neither had relatives that could care for them at the time, they decided to join Oztamin and Vivini. (The Elvaan girl is named Celerity who is a White Mage and the Mithra is a Thief named Merlexa)

After they met Firewing though, they both became obsessed to see why this wyvern had chosen to stay near Oztamin (He didn't tell them he was a Dragoon till later)

3 years later, they started talking about leaving this place to adventure out into the world so they made a visit to the weapons shop. While stealing them in the backroom though, they met with a freelance Hume boy named Runex that decided to join them, simply for the reason that they had a hideout and basically no one (Not even the shop keepers) knew they were in the city since he have only heard of them, as the people described them "shadows of the night".

He later explained that he never met his real parents and decided to leave the orphanage from Jeuno in attempts to become a Samurai. He had made a long journey from Jeuno to Bastok, but he never mentioned that he just strolled away on an Airship. After words he met everyone, including Firewing (who was now about 4 feet long), which oddly enough, didn't try to bite at him. A month past by before they were ready, they all decided that in a couple of days, they would leave Bastok together as Freelance Adventurers.

Author's Notes

Well that's it for now. Please R&R and any ideas are greatly appreciated. Yes, for those that read this 5-8 months ago, I changed it a bit; this will be better (plot wise) and much easier for me too. Laters


	2. Sneaking out

_**Chapter II - Sneaking Out**_

"Hey you! Come on, wake up!"… SLAP! "Ow! What the…!"

Someone had just waked up Oztamin rather harshly, and it couldn't have been Firewing, he's never attacked him. Then as he turned around he saw a young brown haired Hume boy looking back at him with a grin.

"About time you woke up, I've just come back from getting the things I looked for, and if I might say I'm quite pleased with what I've found" the Brown haired Hume told him.

"Would it kill you to just tap on my shoulder and not slap me across the face next time Runex? I almost leaped and attacked you" Oztamin said while holding his forehead.

"Ah don't worry, a slap won't kill you if that's what you're worried about, now come on, the others are waiting for you to see if anything fits"

"If what fits?"

As Oztamin said the last word, he just grinned and grabbed his arm and dragged him out of Firewing's den onto the main cave. Runex dragged him and let him go near the others. Oztamin still half asleep looked over to see the rest of the gang, but something was different about them.

Neither of them had on their rag like clothes anymore, instead, they all were wearing completely different clothes. Vivini was covered in a black and white robe and some black slacks. He still had his raggedy gloves on, but was adjusting brown leather shoes that he didn't wear usually, also an Ash Staff laid next to him.

Merlexa was in what looked like a full "Scale Armor" because he had seen that on display before, but it wasn't every piece, she seemed to be wearing all but the helm, but still looked better than her last clothes. She was also practicing cutting techniques using what seemed to be a mid sized knife. She also had a small but tough looking shield on her back.

Celerity's appearance had also changed, but not much, if it weren't for the brown tunic and pants, not counting the Onion Club and same looking shield Merlexa had, she looked the same. As Oztamin looked as his friend's new appearance, he completely forgot about Runex and turned around not to see a raggy looking boy, but what seemed to be a full Kenshin outfit, complete with a Samurai sword!

"What? Never seen a Samurai this close to you? Don't worry, I won't kill you" Said Runex shortly after grinning to hide what seemed to be a forced laugh.

"I'm not shocked by that, I'm just wondering, where the hell did you get all this!"

"It's not that hard really, when the shops are closed, they change to a charity to anyone that just happens to know a backdoor" Runex said still with a big grin on his face. "Getting this beaut was tough on account the Tenshodo sort of own that shop" He said with another forced laugh.

"You robbed the Tenshodo! Are you crazy? They'll be looking for us by daybreak, Noon if we're lucky!" Vivini broke out, quickly taking off the tunic he was wearing. Celerity and Marlexa never seen a near nude boy this close and immediately covered their eyes, despite his height size."

"Don't get all jumpy on us now, it was only this Great Katana and these clothes I took from them, besides, they looked to be one of the lowest one inside. They'll be thanking me for taking them, not killing me." He said holding the blade up high.

"I still say they'll come looky-wooking for us, the Tenshodo's don't deal with any-wany mercy when someone robs them" Vivini said this time in a higher, more trembling voice.

"Ah don't worry, I place a fake I.D on the ground so they think it's someone that doesn't exist who supposedly lives in Selbina that robbed them. Besides, I made sure these were one of the low grade but good quality weapons, you just can't rob a place of it's prized possession and expect to get away clean now-a-days"

"There see? He made sure that we couldn't possibly have anything to do with it, now just put on your damn clothes!" Celerity shouted at Vivini who still had her eyes shut tight.

"I still don't feel any safers, but might as well take what I have" Vivini said slowly putting on the cloak. Making Celerity and Merlexa feel safe enough to take off their hands from their eyes again.

"Hey wait, I almost forgot! I got you something too Oztamin, now this I had a hard time to get" Runex said while he reached for a leather bag. Runex gave the bag to him and when he opened it he didn't believe his eyes. Inside was a Centurion's Scale Mail with all parts, well, no headgear either like everyone else's, but this armor was way higher quality than any of the others and this was something you just couldn't find anywhere in Bastok now-a-days.

"How did you get this!" He asked still looking at the stolen armor.

"Ah it's not that hard when you have what many adventurer's these days want to trade things like this"

"What exactly did you trade for this?" Celerity asked looking suspiciously at Runex.

"What every Adventurer wants but sometimes too lazy to get." As he finished saying this he put on what seemed to be a red hat with a white ball on the end."

"Is that a Dream Hat? Those are only given to specific people on the Starlight Festival, and that only happens once a year!" Vivini said looking at him shocked.

"Moogles don't like seeing "little" boys sad, so they gave me a few of these as a gift."

"Man, you make me look horrible, and I'M the Thief" Merlexa shouted looking at him with a cold stare.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but why did you bother in getting me an armor of this quality? I'm no one special" Oztamin broke in.

"Well, let's just say it's to say thanks for letting me hand with you guys, and since you were kind of the one to find this sweet location, I guess this is my way of saying thanks"

"Ah, don't say that" Oztamin said looking at Runex with a smile.

"But don't get any ideas, I still don't think you're stronger or better than me in any way, this is just so you don't think I owe you a favor later" Runex said as he put the Katana on the sheath.

"Well, I'm going to put on this to get the feel for it" Oztamin said with a big grin as he grabbed the bag and left for the den. As he entered the den he could still hear Runex bragging about how stealthy he was to get all these things, but there was something running in Oztamin's mind. People don't let thievery go so easy in light of current events, and people would search for whomever stole these things.

If things got to worse, the hideout entrance would be discovered, and they would all be sent to work in the mines for all their criminal acts. Not only that, but they would probably take Firewing away to either keep him out of "danger" or just to kill him. Oztamin wasn't going to stand by and let this happen, he needed a plan to escape, no for all of them, but what?...

As he opened the bag and took out the pieces of armory, he found at the very bottom a Bronze Spear. It looked to be in fine shape but it wasn't new, that didn't matter though, since with this Spear, he though of a plan. He then put on the Armor over his raggedy clothes while Firewing looked at him with curiosity.

As he slip on the second glove, he stood up and didn't feel much different. The armor wasn't as heavy as he though; he didn't feel much different and then took the Spear, swung it around a bit and placed it on his back where a holder was.

"Well Fire's, how do I look?" He said to Firewing while he looked at him back and simply just went back to sleep.

"Not impressed huh? Well, come on, let's go, we're going out of town for a while"

With that, the young wyvern's head spun up and then stretched his wings, and flew up and landed on Oztamin's shoulder, like a parrot if you will.

"Ok, let's go get the others, I'm sure they feel confident enough now to put our plan to action"

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As Oztamin walked out of the den, the other's stopped arguing and looked at the Dragoon with his wyvern by his side.

"Wowie, you look just like a real adventurer." Vivini said with his face in awe.

"So do all of you, which is why we're going out into the plains tonight" Oztamin said in a commander like tone.

"What for? You really think we're ready?" Celerity asked him, her face too in awe.

"Of course, tonight while the moon is still dark, we are to sneak out of Bastok and live our lives just as Adventurers do. Killing Beastmen and taking names, and I know we're good to go since we have a decent party." He told at them, with the same tone as before in his voice.

"Alright, let's get going then, but first, we need to get some supplies" Runex said aching to go.

"Already ahead of you Runex." Merlexa said holding on to 3 bags full of food and supplies"

"Not bad, everything seems to be checked, so let's not stand here any longer and move on out! If we hurry, we can make it out of the gate before sunlight hits" Runex said with sword in hand.

"That's not a bad idea, we need to get away from here as fast as we can since they'll be on the lookout for these things once the shop owner's find out that Runex took them." Oztamin commanded.

"Well, ok, let's go," Merlexa said, and with this, they all grabbed their weapons. Oztamin, Runex and Merlexa took the bags on their back (like backpacks if you will) with Vivini and Celerity taking up the rear. As they opened the door leading from the sewers to the alleys, they found the night was almost over as a hint of blue was peaking from the East part of the sky.

Once they were all out in the alley, all of them (even Firewing) kept as quiet as possible. Walking through the shadows, moving fast but quiet, and almost never had to walk through light, as the back alleys were darker than the sky itself. As they finally reached the slums of Bastok Mines, Oztamin took the bag that previously had his armor in it, and it put Firewing inside the leather bag. Firewing didn't move much but wasn't that comfortable either.

Oztamin only put the bag to cover Firewing, but didn't close the bag. He held him as if it was a baby, and they all continued, walking as casually as they could. As early as it was, people were beginning to wake up for the day of work ahead of them. Only once were they spotted, but the Child Galka that spotted them only waved in greeting, so they waved back and kept on moving.

As they went to the upper part of the slums and went behind the Auction House, Vivini went ahead and looked to see if the coast was clear. He saw the Chocobo Stables to the far left side, a small man-made river on the right, and straight ahead of them he saw the Gate, and only 1 guard standing near it! It was a perfect time to move.

He moved back to inform the others that the coast was clear, and they all moved as fast as they could towards the exit but not running so it didn't seem suspicious. As they reached closer for the gate, the guard looked at them but instead of simply greeting them, he charged at Vivini with his shield, knocking the small Taru aside, and charged for the rest of the Party.


	3. Captured!

Finally! Chapter 3 is up and going, thanks to all those that have read it and thanks to for the only review so far! A bit late because of schoolwork, but it's finally here , R&R.

_**Chapter III - Captured!**_

"Look out!"

Oztamin said to Celerity as he pushed her out of the way from the guard's slash attack. The blade only missed his elbow by a few centimeters, an inch at best.

"Merlexa, here" He said to her as he handed her Firewing, still hidden from lose eyes. "Stay as far from the guard so he doesn't see Firewing, and make sure no one else sees him" Merlexa nodded and darted to the back of the Chocobo Stands. The guard looked at Oztamin furiously and with a speed as quick as a wolf, he quickly turned at a complete 180 turn and slashes his sword at the person next to him, Runex.

Runex barely has time to react as he puts his Great Katana in front of him and a clash of sparks cluster from the blades as they meet in a mid-air collision. The shock of the force sends Runex flying back, but stays on his feet as the pavement below him crumbles a bit as he lands. The guard then focuses his vision on the small Tarutaru, struggling to get on his feet, only to be pushed back down as the guard kicks him down. The guard then looks at the others, like a vicious wolf looks when it is cornered, while holding his blade out, pointing his sword Oztamin.

"If you do not want your friend to die, you put down that spear boy, and you will stop your mumbling girl, or I will cut your throat so it does not release any sound other than misery" the guard demanded of them, his voice as foul sounding as the cry of an Orc"

Taking the most out of the opportunity, Vivini chanted under his breath a spell and a small horde of pebbles struck the guard right on his back, right where his back was exposed of armor. Dumbstruck by the sneak attack, the guard lost his balance that was enough for Vivini to get to his feet and run towards the others.

"Hurry, run!" Vivini shouted as he darted to the gate. The others soon followed him, all except Merlexa who was trying to scurry through a small hole ever since the guard began his assault on them. The guard didn't notice her though, and neither did anyone else, since all the attention was on the pack of running "Criminals". Just as they went into the tunnel that lead out to South Gustaberg, he heard the same foul voice behind then and an iron bar of steel came crashing down blocking their exit.

Not knowing was to do, he quickly turned around and prepared to face the guard, only to find that he had 6 guards behind him, all bearing crossbows aimed directly at each of them. They were a good clean 15 yards from each other, but a crossbolt would cross that easily before any of them.

"Stand down your arms, or be faced by our bolts!" one guard ordered, aiming his crossbow at the "Criminals".

"We have done nothing wrong! Your leader there assaulted us without warning, we merely defended ourselves as would any of you!" Runex yelled at them, with half of the brigade aiming now at him.

"I did not ask for excuses brat, now lay down your sword or I shall slay you down!" the same guard screamed at him.

Vivini urged for Runex to lay his Great Katana down by pulling on his arm, but Runex only kept a firm grip on his blade. Oztamin knew something was going to happen if he didn't do something, and quick. He could jump, the small clearing wasn't to his advantage, and neither could he dodge the crossbows. With no alternative to him, he grabbed the tip of the blade with his polearm's sharp tip. Runex looked at Oztamin who then gave him a nod, and with that, he put his blade on the floor, the others slowly following his actions as they set their shield's and weapons down on the ground.

"A wise choice boy, if it not for you, your friend there might have done something foolish" the guard with the foul voice hissed at him. The others slowly made their way toward them, now slowly pulling out chains to capture the "Criminals" when Oztamin put his Lance aiming straight at them with one hand, the other reaching for the shield on the floor.

"You go back on your word, coward!" The foul voiced man screeched at him.

"I never said anything about me putting my arms down, now did I?" He said this slowly making his way towards the guards. The group of men pulled out their crossbows once more, all aiming for Oztamin, who was now facing them with the left wall to his back. Everyone thought that this boy was a fool, but Runex was catching on to his plan. He was drawing all of their attention to him, leaving their right flank uncovered and unmonitored. He quietly told the others the situation before a crossbolt pierced Oztamin. Vivini then got behind Runex, who was now armed again, and started quietly chanting a hard spell he once saw. He tried to configure the words in the correct order the best he could remember, until he finished the spell with a yell of the word with his gaze directly at the foul voiced guard…

"Thundaga!"

At once, him and everyone near him lit up as a flash of thunder hit their bodies. As they all screamed, he noticed Oztamin clinching to his side, before he realized, he had also hit Oztamin! As the guards fell to the ground from the surprise attack, everyone darted to get out of the tunnel and back to the city, it didn't matter where they went as long as they could escape their attackers.

They all ran past the guards, only knocked down by the spell but still conscience. Runex and Celerity helped Oztamin to his feet, but as they did, they felt a force surround them and they couldn't move, not even twitch. Someone had casted a spell on them! But they couldn't see who it would be, until they heard a distant sound coming from where the city was. The sound soon turned into footsteps, and then a shadowy figure appeared. They couldn't see who it was, but they knew immediately that it was a Tarutaru, given the small size.

As they stood there, bound and unable to act, one of the guards got up before any of the others, and slashed Runex with the blunt side of his blade, still enough though, to knock them out cold. It was him, the foul guard, it had to be.

"Nadex! That was a bit too much! Looky, you gone and knockie-outchie out the poor boys straight to the groundie" The black figure told to the foul guard, who was now known as Nadex.

"A bit much you say? It's just fitting for what these pests have done if you ask me, now as for you 2, there are 2 options, you can either walk on your own 2 feet to where we are to take you, or we can knock the hell out of you and drag your ass down the rocky pavement, either way is fine by me."

Vivini and Celerity tried to move, but with the spell still over them, it was impossible to signal which option they chose. Nadex, seeing no motion, got tired of waiting for an answer, even though about 6 seconds only passed.

"Oh well, your choice." He said and bashed both of their heads together, also knocking them out cold.

"Men, get these pests to the hideout, don't let people see you though. I'm sure the boss will be happy to know that we got them." Nadex ordered to the men as they got up, only to answer him with a "Yes, sir!". The guards each took a body of the unconscious teens. As they all hurried to make sure the darkness still hid their figures, Merlexa saw them dragging them down the alley, Firewing in her grasp poking at her chest with his nose. She turned back as one of the figures stopped but only to continue on his way.

Nadex slowly made his way out of the tunnel, acting as if nothing had happened, with the Tarutaru behind him.

"By the way-aiy, you did know they were stunny-wanied by my spell right?" She asked him. He kept walking and only laughed, and then stopped to face her.

"But of course, I never really intended them to know where they were taken, well, awake that is" He said with a raspy laugh. She only turned away and sighed as she saw the rising sun climbing over the mountain.

"I'm not used to this you know, the mountains and the desert, I miss the fresh feeling of grass and the smell of trees" She said looking rather gloomy. Nadex looked at her with interest, but then tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Well, if you can find our 5th guest, I'll put a file to see that you see your Home again sooner than you planned." She looked at him with confusion, but with joy at the same time.

"There's someone else other than the ones we have? I didn't see anyone else that looked to be related to them as I made my way here, rather impressive armor and weapons they had for their age though, considering they're not adventurers, especially the 2 Humes" she said with a tone of curiosity as she spoke. "But, um, anyways, you sure there's someone else involved?"

"There is, she's hiding near here, I can't tell where exactly, but she's still in the city."

He said this and started walking away, only to be saluted by the Taru with a firm "Yes, sir!" He laughed yet again.

"You know you don't have to address me like that Yami, never did you have to. Just be sure of 1 thing Yami"

"What's that, sir?" He laughed yet again, only a chuckle though.

"Don't harm the wyvern."

"But of course, sir."


End file.
